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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie Bars

Sometimes I think there’s no new way to combine peanut butter and chocolate.

But then I put my thinking cap on and something always comes to me.

I was craving something dense, thick, peanut buttery and chocolaty, and very easy. I wasn’t in the mood for stand mixers and dough chilling. I wanted something fast and not fussy in the least. Sometimes I can handle tedious baking projects and other times, I have the patience of a flea.

I planned to use browned butter in the batter and finish them with a melted peanut butter-chocolate chip drizzle, but kept them pretty bare bones and am so glad I did. The peanut butter flavor comes through, and the glorious hunks and chunks of dark chocolate shine in every bite.

They’re made in one bowl, no mixer required, and the batter comes together by hand in five minutes. After a short 20 minute stint in the oven, you can be enjoying big chewy bites. I love recipes that don’t require hours of advance planning and that go from cupboard shelves and into my belly in under 30 minutes flat.

They combine many favorite recipes into one. They remind me of a pan-full of peanut butter-spiked Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups. As an aside, if you’re prone to cookies that spread, it’s impossible with those because they’re baked in muffin cups.

To make them, melt the butter, about 1 minute in the microwave. Stir in an egg, sugars, vanilla, a hearty scoop of peanut butter, and the dry ingredients. After the batter comes together, fold in chopped dark chocolate. I used Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Pound Plus Bar. I love their Pound Plus Bars for baking and the 72% and the Dark Chocolate are my two favorites.

A tip when chopping chocolate is to put a piece of parchment paper on your cutting board before chopping. It makes it so easy to pick up and dump the whole shredded mess into your mixing bowl. Chocolate isn’t able to cling to the cutting board, making cleanup much easier. I chop many batches of chocolate on the same piece of parchment and tuck it inside the wrapper of my leftover chocolate bar for next time. I hate to waste, even paper.

After the chocolate is folded in, transfer batter to the pan, and bake for about 20 minutes. Don’t overbake because the bars will set up in the pan as they cool. A toothpick test may or may not work because there’s so much chocolate in them and I had to insert a toothpick in four different spots until I stopped hitting chocolate and struck dough. Not a horrible problem to have.

They have all the benefits and taste of Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies, but faster and easier. I love pans of bars because there’s no dough to chill or form into individual mounds. No mixer dishes to do, and nothing can accidentally spread out all over a cookie sheet since it’s baked a pan.

The flavor of peanut butter is distinct and present but not overwhelming and doesn’t overshadow the buttery, sweet dough. The edges raised up and puffed a bit while baking and turned chewy, yet the interior remained dense, tender, moist, and soft.

The chocolate chunks are beautiful surprises that you can sink your teeth into in every bite.

There are so many ways to doctor these up, from using browned butter rather than melted, or adding white, butterscotch or peanut butter chips. Sprinkle in a handful of marshmallows, M&Ms, or a favorite candy. The dough is ripe for add-ins.

Before serving, drizzle with chocolate, melted peanut butter or melted chocolate peanut butter. After the photos, I drizzled some Dark Rum Caramel Sauce over the top on a whim. Oh my, highly recommended and if only I gotten a picture. You’ll have to use your imagination or just make some for yourself.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie Bars

Yield:one 8-by-8-inch pan, 9 generous squares

Total Time:25 minutes

Prep Time:5 minutes

Cook Time:20 minutes

All the flavor and texture of peanut butter-chocolate cookies, but much faster and easier. The batter comes together in minutes by hand and in one bowl. In under 30 minutes, from start to finish, you can be eating one of these bars. The peanut butter flavor is present, but doesn’t overwhelm the buttery, sweet dough. The edges are chewy, and the interior remains dense, tender, moist, and soft. There’s an abundance of chocolate in every bite, perfect for those who love pairing peanut butter and chocolate.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute. Allow the butter to cool momentarily so you don’t scramble the egg. Add the egg, sugars, vanilla, and stir vigorously to combine, for about 1 minute. Stir in the peanut butter. Add the flour, baking soda, optional salt and stir until just incorporated. Stir in chocolate. Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing it lightly with a spatula. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until center is just set and golden (a toothpick test should come out clean if you hit dough but because of the abundance of chocolate, hitting chocolate is more likely). Bars will firm up more in pan as they cool.

Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving. Store extra bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Bars may be kept gluten-free by replacing the flour with your favorite gluten-free baking blend.

Recipe from Averie Cooks. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.

Special K Bars (no-bake) – The recipe is from my Grandma and one of my favorite bars of all time and ironically was the first picture Foodgawker ever accepted of mine. 280+ later, it’s fun to think back. The bars are chewy, peanut buttery and so easy

I made these for my husbands coworkers and got nothing but compliments! I made a double batch in a 9×13 pyrex and increased the baking time to 30 minutes. They came out great! Definitely going to try more of your chocolate and peanut butter recipes! Thanks!

I have made this recipe so many times and always get rave reviews. However since I always make a double in a 9×13, I have struggled with the appropriate baking time. So I decided to check out the comment section. I see the previous person found 30 minutes was good. Have you tried a double batch? Thanks for such a wonderfully delicious recipe :)

I personally haven’t doubled this recipe because I bake every day something new for my blog and have a small family and don’t.need.big.batches. So I can’t help you but thanks for trying the recipe and glad it always gets rave reviews!

I just made these and followed directions exactly and they came out way underdone. My daughter tried them and she said way to much chocolate and not enough peanut butter. There is no way I can cut these so I put them back in oven for a few more minutes, if not hard enough we will just scoop them in a bowl and put some vanilla ice cream on top.

All ovens vary and you have to judge baking time based on YOUR oven and climate, the pan used, the metal, etc. Putting them back in was a good thought to save them; but in general with baking, trust your gut and bake til done. And yes, they do have plenty of chocolate. You can always reduce it next time to your taste. Thanks for trying the recipe.

These look fab!! Now I’ve never tried mixing peanut butter since I don’t have a mixer, so could you please guide me on how that works? PB looks sticky so does it mix smoothly in a few minutes or would I have to keep stirring for 10 mins? I’m kinda new to baking here. I think its finally time for me to try a peanut butter recipe of yours!

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

Hi, I'm Averie and I'm so glad you've found my site! You'll find fast and easy recipes from dinners to desserts that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!